Uncontrolled Search Path (DLL Hijack)Weakness · CWE-427

CVE-2024-28131

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-03-26
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
EasyRange Ver 1.41 contains an issue with the executable file search path when displaying an extracted file on Explorer, which may lead to loading an executable file resides in the same folder where the extracted file is placed. If this vulnerability is exploited, arbitrary code may be executed with the privilege of the running program. Note that the developer was unreachable, therefore, users should consider stop using EasyRange Ver 1.41.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

EasyRange Ver 1.41 suffers from an executable search path vulnerability (binary planting) when displaying extracted files in Windows Explorer. The application loads executables from the same folder as the displayed file without using fully qualified paths, allowing attackers to place malicious executables that get executed with the application's privileges.

MitigationSince the developer is unreachable and no patch exists, discontinue use of EasyRange Ver 1.41 immediately and migrate to an alternative solution. Verify no instances remain in the environment.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Locate EasyRange installation
    Search for eastrng.exe or eastrng.exe in common program directories: C:\Program Files\, C:\Program Files (x86)\, or using PowerShell: Get-ChildItem -Path C:\ -Recurse -Filter eastrng.exe -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    Affected if eastrng.exe is found on the system
  2. Confirm installed version is 1.41
    Right-click eastrng.exe, select Properties, then look at the Version tab to read the File Version. Alternatively, run: (Get-Item "C:\Path\To\eastrng.exe").VersionInfo.FileVersion
    Affected if File version displays as 1.41
  3. Verify binary planting behavior exists
    This vulnerability is inherent to version 1.41 - the application loads executables from the same folder as displayed files without fully qualified paths. No additional config check needed; version 1.41 specifically exhibits this flaw.
    Affected if Version is confirmed as 1.41 (the vulnerable behavior is present by design)

If eastrng.exe version 1.41 is present on the system, the environment is affected by CVE-2024-28131 and should be removed.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Since the developer is unreachable and no patch exists, discontinue use of EasyRange Ver 1.41 immediately and migrate to an alternative solution. Verify no instances remain in the environment.

Recommended fix High confidence
  1. Discontinue use of EasyRange Ver 1.41 as the developer is unreachable and no fix is available.
  2. Replace EasyRange with an actively maintained alternative file compression/extraction tool.
  3. If immediate replacement is not possible, exercise extreme caution when extracting files - never extract to folders that also contain executable files, and scan all extracted files with up-to-date antivirus software before opening.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,030
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-28131 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data